The Central Tabulator

John McCain’s pride in his accomplishments bespeaks an unfortunate tendency in American public life Alan Pell Crawford
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday July 31 2008

In his long and productive life, John McCain has done many things in which he might take great personal satisfaction. The senator, presumptive Republican candidate and, lest we forget, former prisoner of war is naturally and understandably proud of his many accomplishments, including commendable wartime sacrifice. This tendency would go down more smoothly, however, were he not so eager to tell everyone just how proud he is.

Pride is natural and understandable, but one needn’t be a Calvinist to realise that it has long been reckoned in the western tradition as – there’s no other word – a sin. Like most Americans, McCain seems not to know this. To him, pride is evidently a virtue.

McCain is not just proud of his country and its achievements and his role in them. He’s even proud of things his country has yet to do. “What we have to tell our friends around the world,” McCain said in May, “is that we will be proud of America because of what we’re going to do.” (Whether they remain our friends after this bragging act one can only guess.) Source Article